Four years of NDA: 4 small reforms by Modi that went unnoticed

Four years of Modi government: The Narendra Modi government has kept it simple: Do away with redundant and obsolete laws.

The Narendra Modi government has kept it simple: Do away with redundant and obsolete laws. (Image: PTI)

Four years of Modi government: The Narendra Modi government has kept it simple: do away with redundant and obsolete laws. In 2016, the Lok Sabha repealed 1,175 of 1,827 laws that were identified as obsolete, and many other steps were taken to make lives of common people easier. Many of these reforms went unnoticed in the four years of Modi-led NDA government.

Here are some of the small reforms undertaken by Narendra Modi government:

Self-attestation is enough

In 2014, the government decided that there was no need to get documents attested by a gazetted officer or file affidavits for government-related work. After the decision, applicants only need to self-attest the copies of their birth certificates, mark sheets or other documents.

No birth-certificate? But here is your passport

The Modi government did away with birth certificates as a mandatory document for availing passport. The government simplified the 1980 rule of securing passports by Indian citizens. Now Aadhaar and PAN card are among a host of documents that could be used to establish proof of birth.

Tatkal reforms

Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country. About 23 million passengers use the services of Railways every day. One of the most important services is Tatkal booking, which allows people to book tickets for immediate travelling. The government launched Rail Connect app last year to ensure Tatakal booking in less than a minute. Moreover, Tatkal booking timings were changed to facilitate hassle-free booking by reducing the load on the server.

Tax filing made easy

A joint report by World Bank and PwC said that the reforms in the area of paying taxes in 2016 made data gathering increasingly automated. The IT Department started using modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to make the process automated. With the introduction of electronic payments of state insurance contributions and social security contributions, the time required to comply with tax liabilities came down significantly.